By Henrylito D. Tacio
“I love to sleep because it is both pleasant and safe to use. Pleasant because one is in the best possible company and safe because sleep is the consummate protection against the unseemliness that is the invariable consequence of being awake. What you don’t know won’t hurt you.” – Fran Lebowitz
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Fifteen-year-old James plays a video game at home. Patrick, 22, misses eating his dinner because he is busy chatting with his college friends until midnight. For almost a week now, young executive Jennifer hasn’t had a good sleep since she is busy preparing for a powerpoint report that will be presented during an annual meeting.
All three have one thing in common: they are all sleep deprived. And it’s not surprising at all that Filipinos have one of the highest rates of sleep deprivation in Asia – about 46% do not get enough sleep while 32% sleep for less than six hours.
A recent study conducted by Sleep Cycle, an application that monitors people’s hours of sleep, Filipinos spent only 6 hours and 30 minutes to 6 hours and 45 minutes of sleep per day. Those figures were low compared to the recommended span of sleep by American National Sleep Foundation for adults which range between 7 to 9 hours a day.
The extrapolated statistics of Health Grades Inc. in 2014 showed that more than 10 million adults in the Philippines suffered from insomnia, defined as the inability to fall asleep or to stay asleep, even when given a chance to do so.
Dangers of sleep deprivation
Sleep deprivation increases the risks of fatal accidents. Remember AJ Perez, one of the bankable actors of his time. He died when the van he was riding collided with a provincial passenger bus along McArthur Highway in barangay San Julian in Tarlac. Ogie Diaz, his manager, told the media that everyone in the van was sleeping. It was surmised that the driver had fallen asleep while driving.
We spent one-third of our lives sleeping. Those who sleep less are courting trouble. “The lack of sleep or sleep deprivation may sabotage one’s mental and physical health at risk causing short-term and long-term memory problems, mood swings, anxiety and depression, inability to focus, weight gain, and others,” said the Sleep Cycle.
The Philippines ranked fourth among the countries experiencing sleep deprivation. “Human beings are the only species that deliberately deprive themselves of sleep for no apparent gain,” Matthew Walker once said. “Many people walk through their lives in an underslept state, not realizing it.”
Sleep deprivation is bad for your health. If you sleep less at night, some of your body organs are greatly affected. Let’s take a closer look at how not getting a good night sleep disturbs your heart, kidneys, lungs, and skin, among others.
Heart
Poor sleep, including abrupt awakenings, can generate a sharp uptick in heart rate. Research showed that people with sleeping problems are more likely to complain of an irregular heartbeat. For these reasons, lack of sleep may be tied to heart palpitations.
Sleep deprivation heightens the risk of heart attacks, according to the US Sleep Foundation. In a study, people sleeping less than six hours per night had a 20% higher chance of a heart attack. “Both heart rate and blood pressure can abruptly spike upon awakening, frequent sleep deprivations can cause cardiac stress and may induce a heart attack,” it explains.
An observational study of over 400,000 people also found strong associations between sleeping problems and heart failure. “In that study, people who slept less than seven hours per night had an elevated risk of heart failure,” the US Sleep Foundation states.
Brain
Sleep is important to a number of brain functions, including how nerve cells (neurons) communicate with each other. Even while you are asleep, your brain and body remain remarkably active.
“Without sleep, you can’t form or maintain the pathways in your brain that let you learn and create new memories, and it’s harder to concentrate and respond quickly,” reminds the US National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.
In research studies, lack of sleep has been correlated with a greater likelihood of having a stroke. “Sleep deprivation increases blood pressure, and high blood pressure is considered to be the leading risk factor for strokes,” the US Sleep Foundation says. “In addition, by contributing to plaque build-up in the arteries, insufficient sleep may make it easier for blockages to occur and cause mini-strokes or strokes.”
Stroke happens when blood flow to the brain is cut off, causing brain cells to die from lack of oxygen. Ischemic strokes occur when a blood clot or plaque blocks an artery. A transient ischemic attack, also referred to as a mini-stroke, involves only a short-term blockage.
Kidneys
A good night’s rest is extremely important to your kidneys, too. “Kidney function is actually regulated by the sleep-wake cycle,” explains Dr. Ciaran McMullan, of Brigham and Women’s Hospital. “It helps coordinate the kidneys’ workload over 24 hours.”
In his study that was supported by the US National Kidney Foundation, he found out women who slept five hours or sleep a night had a 65% greater risk of rapid decline in kidney function, compared with women sleeping seven to eight hours a night.
Research published in the American Journal of Kidney Diseases showed that as much as 80% of patients using maintenance hemodialysis (which serves to remove wastes and excess fluid from the blood when the kidneys fail at this job) reported problems either with sleeping (waking up too early, problems with waking up and not being able to fall asleep again) or with excessive daytime sleepiness (probably due to fragmented or insufficient nighttime sleep).
Lungs
Sleep deprivation can affect lung health, writes Alaska Sleep Clinic’s Jennifer Hines. “Since poor sleep can weaken the immune system, it also increases one’s vulnerability to respiratory problems. For patients with chronic lung disease, sleep deficiency could worsen the signs and symptoms.”
The sleep and wake cycle intensifies breathing changes from non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep to rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. “During REM sleep, breathing becomes less frequent,” Hines writes. “Difficulty breathing at night can reduce lung activity, which makes inhaling and exhaling even more difficult.”
Cardiac and respiratory functions become unstable during the REM sleep. “Breathing obstruction can result in sudden arousal to get more oxygen,” Hines writes. “Smoking, lung diseases, and anything that obstructs breathing contributes to sleep problems.”
Bones
At night, when you’re asleep, the fixer-upper cells in your bones go to work. “Special bone cells called osteocytes regulate the body’s calcium levels, repair microscopic bone cracks, and heal fractures,” bonejoint.com states. “They signal cells called osteoclasts to remove minerals from the bones when the body’s calcium levels dip too low. They also send messages to bone-building cells called osteoblasts when cracks and breaks need repair.”
Sleep deprivation interferes with the process of your bones being repaired. “Sleeping too little also interferes with bone development,” says bonejoint.com. A study done by the Medical College of Wisconsin showed that chronic sleep loss stops the development of bone cells and the soft spongy marrow inside needed for flexibility and fracture prevention.
Less sleep may negatively impact bone health. In a study, women who self-reported sleeping five hours of sleep or less per night had significantly lower bone mineral density at four sites (whole body, hip, neck, and spine) compared to women who slept seven hours a night.
Skin
If you’re getting fewer than 6 hours of sleep, it’s likely affecting your appearance, says Dr. Michael Breus, an American sleep specialist. Take the case of your skin, which makes new collagen when you sleep.
“That’s part of the repair process,” says Dr. Patricia Wexler, a dermatologist in New York. Collagen helps prevent sagging of your skin. So, it means that the more collagen, the plumper your skin will be and less likely to wrinkle.
Your body boosts blood flow to the skin while you are sleeping, which means you wake to a healthy glow. “Sleep deprivation causes a decrease in blood flow to the skin surrounding your face,” Dr. Breus said. “Skin becomes dull, and you don’t get those rosy cheeks anymore.” – ###
